The same day, European digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes also urged businesses to adopt IPv6, while the European Commission made its Europa website accessible for IPv6 users as well as IPv4 users.

In a blog post, Kroes noted that the "practically unlimited" amount of addresses provided by the protocol will be needed to meet the "explosive growth" in fridges, cars and other household items designed to connect to the internet.

"Moving from IPv4 to IPv6 is therefore essential to let the internet evolve and create new apps and services," said Kroes. "It will offer many advantages including larger address space, support for new mobile and wireless services, and built-in security."

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